Mass at the collegiate church of Saint-Emilion (Credit: Mehdi Fedouach/AFP/Getty Images)

Take more than a thousand years of history and a crimson-robed group of individuals dedicated to maintaining the reputation of stellar wines. Throw in a mass in a beautiful vaulted church followed by a three-hour lunch with ten excellent local wines and you have the annual Ban des Vendanges ceremony. This kicks off the annual grape harvest for Saint-Émilion, Bordeaux.

The harvest is now underway in much of Bordeaux wine country, despite the deadly frost earlier this year that knocked out—for some vineyards—over 50% of their grapes. This annual full-day event within the small and ancient city (population: less than 2,000) is a colorful, sumptuous and photogenic celebration.

Twelve hundred and fifty years ago, while the Franks were capturing what is now the city of Bordeaux and devastating the Aquitaine region, a monk named Émilion died in what became the small medieval stone city that is now named after him. Originally from Brittany, he chose to move south and live in seclusion in a cave near the Dordogne River on which a massive church now stands. In time a village sprouted around the site.

Four centuries later, and decades after the English gained control of the region, the brother of Richard the Lionheart, King John Lackland of England (also the son of famed Eleanor of Aquitaine) provided local administrative powers to eight parishes of the jurisdiction of Saint-Émilion, which became known as the Jurade, or brotherhood of wine. The year was 1199. One stipulation for this freedom was that England was given the first rights to their wine. The freedom this arrangement afforded provided the Jurade with incentive to maintain rigorous quality control over vintages. Smashing barrels of poor quality juice was not only tolerated, but encouraged.

The activities of the Jurade have not gone uninterrupted.

“During the French revolution, they had their heads cut off,” said Jean-Bernard Grenié, as we sat together inside the garden of the Salle de Dominicains for lunch. “But after the Second World War," he continued, "the Jurade was formed again.”

Grenié is a partial owner of Château Angelus, which has been family owned and run for more than two centuries. Angelus produces Premier Grand Cru Classé A wines, and the family actively participates in promoting art and cultural events throughout Bordeaux.

Illuminated under warm light and rich colors inside the church, Jurade members wear red and white robes and sit beneath ornate stain glass windows and candelabras. There are six levels of membership within the Jurade, and today the 3,000 members from throughout the world are considered ambassadors of wine—be they an American dentist, a Shanghai sommelier, a Dutch wine club owner, an Australian academic or a Manchester wine aficionado. These individuals have established tasting clubs, researched wine or promoted the world of grapes for years. Others are renowned contributors to international culture, sport and history.

Originally established as a local movement to ensure quality control, the Jurade also now enhances international marketing by spreading the name (and fame) of Saint-Émilion wines, with chapters set up in several international locations that include Oxford, New York, Hong Kong and, yes, even the U.S. state of Texas.

During the initiation of new members, speakers blasted music—a meld between Gregorian chant and the Rocky Balboa theme—that amplified the event's ceremonial energy. When the Jurade stepped outside, a costumed pipe and drum band continued rolling the music. Cameras clicked and high-heeled visitors stumbled on cobblestone alleys within this hilly city.

Credit: Tom Mullen

Village of Saint-Émilion with Jurade on tower in upper right

The harvest lunch is a feast as well as a venue to develop business contacts. While eating Breton langoustines in celery ravioli together with a salad of truffles, morel mushrooms with green asparagus, I spoke with a Swedish photographer assembling books for vineyards, and then to a wine magazine editor. We drank wines from local chateaux that included Ripeau, Figeac, Laniote, Mangot, Angelus and Valandraud (and several others) before finishing lunch with Fougeru cheese followed by raspberries and passion fruit.

After lunch the Jurade paced downward to the base of the village and ascended the Tour du Roi (King’s Tower). They stood on top and looked out at vineyards that, for at least eight centuries, have defined the identity and commercial bloodstream of Saint-Émilion.